I recently attended a judging seminar sponsored by the American
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club – which is the breed club
associated with the American Kennel Club (AKC).

I have a wonderful powerpoint presentation on the Cavalier breed
standard and interpretation that was created by the Judging Education
Committee. I would be happy to forward a copy of this presentation to
anyone who may be interested.

There are some wonderful illustrations and reference photos.

If you are interested in a copy, please e-mail me.

RodRussell

9th July 2006, 06:06 AM

Dear Janet V.: Thank you for your generous offer. From my admittedly provincial (meaning, Central Florida, USA) observations of AKC conformation judging, the judges ought to watch that presentation and follow it ... for a change. They seem to reward obvious trimming of ears, slippers, and coats to the point that either they do not know what the breed standard is or they do not care. Maybe it is because so many other breeds' standards seem to promote such trimming.

In that regard, there are too few Cavalier breeders who are AKC judges. In the AKC, there literally are people judging CKCSs who had never even seen a Cavalier before the breed was recognized by the AKC in 1995. Since then, I think many AKC judges have added the CKCS to their list of breeds solely to make themselves more marketable as judges, but they otherwise are clueless about the proper conformation of the breed.

Also, the AKC is planning on limiting many CKCS breeders from judging in the AKC, by passing a rule that any AKC judge who also judges in the CKCSC,USA (or other similar venues) would have a "conflict of interest". This rule will go in effect next January if it passes the AKC's house of delegates in September. The AKC board of directors already has approved this rule. This would mean that CKCSC,USA judges (nearly all of whom are or have been long time CKCS breeders) and who also are AKC judges, will have to choose whether to remain AKC judges and no longer judge in CKCSC,USA shows, or cease being AKC judges.

Rod Russell
Orlando, Florida USA

Maxxs_Mummy

9th July 2006, 11:05 AM

Hi Janet,

I have emailed you for a copy - thanks :D

I've been looking at your site & I laughed so much at Aimy's pouty puppy picture. Who'd have thought that such a pouty puppy could have grown into such a beautiful young lady?

Absolutely delicious :flwr:

Heritage Cavaliers

9th July 2006, 11:57 AM

I have **tried** to post the presentation to the web - it is a huge file and I can not e-mail it :(

http://www.heritagecavaliers.com/standards.htm

please let me know if you have any problems downloading it and I will try to another route. It will take awhile to download - but well worth it!

Rod: thank you for your observation - much of it was echoed at the seminar as well.

Bruce H

9th July 2006, 12:05 PM

Dear Janet V.: Thank you for your generous offer. From my admittedly provincial (meaning, Central Florida, USA) observations of AKC conformation judging, the judges ought to watch that presentation and follow it ... for a change. They seem to reward obvious trimming of ears, slippers, and coats to the point that either they do not know what the breed standard is or they do not care. Maybe it is because so many other breeds' standards seem to promote such trimming.

In that regard, there are too few Cavalier breeders who are AKC judges. In the AKC, there literally are people judging CKCSs who had never even seen a Cavalier before the breed was recognized by the AKC in 1995. Since then, I think many AKC judges have added the CKCS to their list of breeds solely to make themselves more marketable as judges, but they otherwise are clueless about the proper conformation of the breed.

Also, the AKC is planning on limiting many CKCS breeders from judging in the AKC, by passing a rule that any AKC judge who also judges in the CKCSC,USA (or other similar venues) would have a "conflict of interest". This rule will go in effect next January if it passes the AKC's house of delegates in September. The AKC board of directors already has approved this rule. This would mean that CKCSC,USA judges (nearly all of whom are or have been long time CKCS breeders) and who also are AKC judges, will have to choose whether to remain AKC judges and no longer judge in CKCSC,USA shows, or cease being AKC judges.

Rod Russell
Orlando, Florida USA

Wow, you hit on my pet peeve in showing. There are so many Cavaliers in the ring now that are obviously trimmed; they don't even seem to try to hide it. In fact, I got so disgusted once that I said to a professional handler "What a beautiful coat on your dog; I wish my dog's coat grew as evenly as yours without trimming." If looks could have killed...... ! Kris and I have decided that we will not trim, and if it means we don't win because of it, so be it (but will we be mad!).

I had no idea that AKC was considering that kind of rule change. Maybe Kris did because she keeps up with it better than I do. Do you know if they are trying to do the same kind of thing with other breeds? That makes no sense to me.

Finally, thank you Janet for the very generous offer.

JeanKC

9th July 2006, 12:25 PM

That is an outstanding presentation, and worth looking at even if only to see the beautiful pictures!

Thanks for putting it up.

RodRussell

9th July 2006, 02:11 PM

Bruce: This is a rule change for all classifications of AKC judges, including obedience, rally, agility, tracking, etc., and it is not breed-specific either. Essentially, any AKC judge who judges in any competing dog association, which would include the CKCSC,USA, would have a conflict of interest. There will be a few limited and specific exceptions, each of which will have to be approved by the AKC board of directors.

So, this means that an AKC judge could not also judge at CKCSC,USA shows, including obedience judges as well as conformation. There are a few CKCS breeders who also are AKC judges. If the rule passes the AKC in September, those judges will have to choose which of the two venues they want to continue judging in, because they will not be able to judge in both.

If any of you are members of an AKC club, urge your delegate to vote against this rule change at the meeting in September.

Rod Russell
Orlando, Florida USA

molly

9th July 2006, 03:20 PM

Rod, thanks for this information. Do you think it would help if someone could start a petition to the AKC?

Karlin

10th July 2006, 12:04 AM

Thanks for the presentation link; it's a 71MB file for anyone considering downloading it (once you click it goes to an automatic download). I think it's easier to post like that for people to download. :thmbsup: